


The Shirt

by robronsugsy



Category: Emmerdale, robron
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-30
Updated: 2015-07-30
Packaged: 2018-04-12 01:58:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4460957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robronsugsy/pseuds/robronsugsy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Robert's away. Aaron pretends like he doesn't miss him, and when he finally shows he does he finds comfort.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Shirt

**Author's Note:**

> Previously posted in 'Starting Together' so if it's familiar that's why!
> 
> (Decided to separate them as they're all long-ish!)

Aaron pretended like he didn't care, like his stomach wasn't in knots and that he wasn't bothered he was going.

 

"So you're not gonna miss me?"

"It's a few days" he scoffed. "I think I can handle it. It'll be a nice holiday!"

"Really?" Robert laughed unconvinced, but with a small tinge of disappointment.

"Nah mate, I'll be good."

 

Aaron stood folded arms as he watched Robert pack up the car and shutting the boot upon completion, making his face drop a little as it was sinking in that he really was going.

_For god sake Livesy! It's a few fucking days, stop acting like a girl!_

 

He looked down before Robert walked back up to him and lifted his face by his chin.

"Well I'll miss you."

Aaron couldn't help but blush at the adorable smile he received, placing his lips against his boyfriends and holding them there with his eyes closed.

Aaron pulled away and they leant their foreheads together, sighing.

"Well, go on, you don't wanna be late for the train." He stated plainly.

Robert gave him another smile before giving him a peck on the cheek.

"See ya baby!"

"FUCK OFF! We've spoke about tha-"

Aaron's rant was cut off by Robert's laughing as he gave him a wink and jumped in the car, moments later driving off.

 

He couldn't help but watch the car as it departed up the road, remaining against the door frame until the car was out of sight.

 

With Robert gone, Aaron re-entered the house and looked around. It was stupid really, but this was the first time they'd been apart since they got together back in August. They'd not left one another's side after the dreadful events that occurred that Summer, spending the first three months back and forth from the pub and the box room at Victoria's. Then afterwards Robert managed to get himself into Pearl's old house and Aaron moved in with him.

 

So it was a little unnerving for him to be stood in the house, feeling more alone than he had in months.

 

First he flicked the TV on, watching some monotonous cooking program before becoming agitated and turning it off just 10 minutes in. Then he went in the kitchen to make himself a sandwich, walking into the room only to realize he'd made two. He placed the spare plate on the side and took a bite of his sandwich.

 

He'd lost his appetite after the first bite.

 

Nothing at home was making him relax. He was up and down off the sofa going back and forth between rooms looking for something to do. It never really dawned on him how little he did in life, especially now, as everything he did involved Robert. He wondered if this is what dogs felt like when their owners were at work, nothing to do but sit and do nothing.

 

He'd sat down back on the sofa for the fiftieth time before groaning in frustration, picking himself up and grabbing a hoodie, heading to the pub.

 

 

*

 

"Oh here he is! Wondered how long it'd be."

Aaron walked in with a scrunched brow at his mother, stood beside Diane both looking at him with a mix of sympathy and humour.

"What?"

"We were all wondering how long it'd be until you came and drowned your sorrows cause loverboy was gone. Diane said a day. I gave you a few hours."

She checked her watch.

"Yep. Looks like I win!"

Aaron gave her a sneering look as she placed down his beer, taking a big sip before placing it back down.

"So got any plans?" his mother asked, leaning against the bar close to him.

 

Aaron looked around and motioned his hands into the mainly quiet pub.

"Oh yeah big plans for a night out with my invisible mates, then I thought I'd build a rocket and fly to the flamin' moon."

"Alright snappy, keep your knickers on. God if this is what you're gonna be like everytime he goes away-"

"-Yeah yeah whatever."

"I'm serious Aaron. He's gonna be off for work a lot now, you're gonna have to detach yourself from him a bit and get some independence back! Not having you moping about all the time!"

He just scoffed as he took another sip, only to feel the hard pressure of two hands on his shoulders.

"He's always a mopey git though!"

He turned to find Adam walking in, motioning for a beer before sitting beside his friend.

"I take it your not coping well without 'im?!" Adam teased

 

"For god sake! Do people think I'm incapable of being away from the guy for more than five seconds or summat?!"

"Yeah!" they all said in unison, Diane, Adam and Chas all laughing.

Aaron rolled his eyes and gulped down the rest of his pint before signalling he was off.

"Come on Aaron don't be like that!" his mum shouted after him, but he was already out the door.

 

He walked back to the house with his hood up, chucking his keys into the bowl and about to sit down when his phone started.

 

*Robert calling*

 

He eagerly answered, placing the phone to his ear.

"Hiya"

_"Hiya, just wanted to check in see how things are?"_

Aaron scoffed. "Don't you start. Just had mum, Diane and Adam on my case."

_"You what? What you onabout?"_

"All of you lot acting like I can't fucking cope without you!"

_"Alright alright calm down! I was only asking how things were."_

Aaron sighed, before putting the phone to his other ear.

"Yeah I know, sorry. It's just strange that's all."

_"What?"_

"You not being here. Didn't realize how much time we spent together, it's only been a few hours and I dunno what to do with myself."

Robert just laughed.

"Oh thanks, let's laugh at the sad loner who can't cope without his other half for three days!"

_"Pack it in will ya, I miss you too y'know."_

"Really?"

_"Course! You're right, it is weird. Not been away for you longer than a few hours for the last few months. Guess I forgot what it's like without ya."_

Aaron just smiled sadly into the phone.

_"Look, my trains just pulling int'ta station now, I'll call you in the morning yeah?"_

"Yeah alright. Love you."

_"Love you too, bye."_

"Yeah bye."

 

Aaron let the phone drop out of his hand and he pushed his head back into the sofa with a huff. He'd just turned the TV on when the doorbell rang.

 

He pushed himself from the sofa, finding Adam and Victoria at the door.

 

"What?" he grumbled at them.

"Oh, charming! That's a nice welcome for those who have come with gifts!"

Victoria held up what Aaron assumed was a takeaway and Adam was holding a crate of beers.

He couldn't hide the smile before signalling them in.

 

Adam put the beers down as Victoria headed straight into the kitchen.

"Thought we could do a night in, just the three of us like we used to."

Aaron gave another smile before sitting on the sofa.

Adam handed him a beer and Victoria came and sat next to Adam with a glass of wine.

"Cheers!" they all clinked, before tucking into the Chinese laid out before them

 

 

 

*

 

 

It was quite late on when Victoria and Adam finally stumbled out of his house, drunk and cheerfully singing to one another as they walked down the street. Aaron couldn't help but laugh as he heard their out-of-pitch and out-of-sync voices fading away.

 

He stumbled upstairs tipsily before collapsing on his bed, taking off his jeans with a great struggle and then rolling over, placing his hand over on Robert's side of the bed expecting his hand to hit the soft skin of Robert's chest.

He soon realized Robert wasn't there and felt himself welling up a little.

Robert wasn't there and it was strangely scary for him. Aaron depended on Robert a lot now, and while it wasn't the most healthy thing to do, depend entirely on someone who's known to not be the most dependable in life, it made him happy to know he was there for him through everything though. Robert was his rock and safety net, phrases he never expected to use for a guy like Robert Sugden.

 

Aaron took Robert's pillow and wrapped his arms around it, pulling it close to his body and inhaling the fading scent with his eyes closed.

 

 

 

*

 

Aaron woke the next morning with a bit of a headache on him, only rousing at the sound of his phone.

He scratched his hair through his fingers and groaned, before picking up the phone.

"What?"

_"What? Charming."_

"Robert." Aaron breathed with a relieved smile.

_"Well yeah, who were you expecting?"_

"What time is it?"

_"Half 10. Christ, you slept in?"_

"Appears so. Got your sister and her husband to thank for that."

_"Why what happened?"_

"Nowt. Just brought some beers and a takeaway round, must'o had a crate-full too many."

Robert just laughed.

_"Well it's nice to know one of us gets to have some fun and company!"_

"Yeah well, dint have much choice, they were feeling sorry for me."

_"Aww baby!"_

"Fuck off!" Aaron laughed.

_"Well I had a great night. Back-to-back meetings as soon as I got here and then two already this morning aswell. Looks like I've got a foot in with some clients though."_

"That's great."

_"Well try to sound a bit more enthusiastic about it."_

"Shit-sorry. Yeah, it's great. Really great. I'm proud'o ya. Sorry me heads just banging."

_"Well I'll get off and let you sort yourself out then."_

"Alright. Keep up the good work Mr. Sugden."

_"Will do Mr. Livesy. Only two days now!"_

"Can't wait" Aaron smiled, being a bit more honest than he expected to be.

_"Right I'm off, speak to you later? love you."_

"Yeah, Love you too."

 

Aaron ended the call and sighed, before making the arduous task of getting out of bed.

 

*

 

The rest of the day was spent not doing much, luckily the hangover made time go faster. Victoria had popped round and said she was gonna come help tidy a bit for him, so she did the cleaning while Adam and Aaron held their heads in their hands, obviously not being able to get over hangovers as easily as she did, it seemed.

 

They'd left mid-evening so Aaron found himself alone again, curling up on the sofa with a share-size bag of crisps and a beer. Despite the lie in he was drowsy, nodding off after a few hours of Top Gear only to find himself startled when he spilt the ice cold beer over himself.

 

"Shit!" he shouted, standing up and wafting the excess liquid off.

He groaned as he unzipped his hoodie to reveal the luckily still clean white t-shirt and removed his wet jeans. He threw them across the room and quickly got some towels to clean up the mess, before plodding himself back on the sofa, now out of his comfortable spot and a little chilly.

 

He looked at the time and saw it was getting quite late on. Robert should of phoned by now, he'd not have anymore meetings at this time. So he picked up his phone and quickly dialed.

 

When he didn't get an answer, he tried again.

 

And again.

 

 

And again.

 

 

 

And again.

 

He didn't know if he was worried or annoyed. Then he wondered if maybe Robert was in a meeting, but then double backed in his thoughts that it was too late for meetings now. Maybe he was in the shower? Or just left his phone? Lost his phone? Hurt?!

Aaron shook his head and calmed himself down. It wasn't like him to get so worried about things when there was no indication anything was wrong. He tried once more and left a voicemail.

 

_"Rob it's me. You're not answering, obviously, so call me as soon as you can yeah?"_

 

He ended the call then shot him a quick text...

_"Oi, answer the phone you douche!"_

_..._ before placing his phone back down, rubbing his arms for warmth.

 

He found himself yawning and it felt like too much effort to walk upstairs and sleep in an empty bed. So he decided instead to pull over the blanket from behind the sofa and draped it over himself.

 

His phone lit up and he quickly grabbed it, only to feel deflated that it wasn't Robert then embarrassed that he was so eager. He threw his phone maybe a little too hard onto the floor before sighing back into the sofa. His eye caught onto something peaking out of the blanket.

 

He pulled at the material only to find himself holding one of Robert's shirts.

 

He chucked silently as he realized why it was there. Vic was cleaning when she found the shirt in the cupboard. Asking what the hell was his shirt doing there, Aaron revealed that it was one of Robert's "Home Farm era" shirts that he hated, and that when they moved in he hid it from Robert and pretended like it was lost. It was one of the only ones Chrissie hadn't burnt to a cinder when she chucked him out, and one of the last memories of 'her' he had. He'd forgotten all about it after that.

 

Looking at the shirt, white with some weird blue pattern on it, it really was horrible. But Aaron couldn't help but smile knowing that even with all the hideous shirts, Robert pulled them off effortlessly. And, the fact he wore such ugly shirts made it so much more enjoyable when he got to rip them off of him. He only wore plain coloured shirts now after Aaron's numerous jokes about the patterned ones, and he couldn't help but feel a little guilty that he pretty much made Robert stop wearing them. Although, he supposed maybe he only wore such garish shirts before was because they came from an expensive label with an even more expensive price tag.

 

Still feeling a little chilly, Aaron opened up the shirt and pulled it on, gaining a faint smell of Robert's aftershave. The smell got the hairs on the back of his neck on edge, his arms filled with goose bumps. It reminded him of Robert and Aaron couldn't help but pull it tighter onto his body, the baggy material scrunched between his hands. Aaron laid back down and pulled the material to his nose, snuggling into the shirt as he drifted off.

 

 

*

 

_"Rob it's me. Obviously you're not answering, so call me as soon as you can yeah?"_

 

Robert chuckled as he ended the call, eyes back focused on the road. It was cute and adorable that Aaron was evidently missing him so much, so it only made his plan more exciting. He'd had loads of meetings, and so many of them were a success he decided to bin off the third days load of potential clients and go back home. He'd had enough of sleeping alone and wanted the warmth of his boyfriend in his arms again.

 

It was around midnight when he finally got back home. The village was silent and he climbed out of his car and shivered at the slight breeze. He got his bag out of the boot as quietly as he could, before fumbling with his keys into the door and unlocking it, closing it gently behind him.

 

He dropped his bag on the floor and was about to turn the light on when he saw something move on the couch. He looked at it with a scrunched brow before walking over quietly, smiling and laughing faintly at what he saw.

 

Aaron was curled in a ball with the blanket covering his legs, his arms to his chest, silent and peaceful.

 

But what Robert really caught on at was the material draped around Aaron's torso. He soon realized exactly what is was and was a bit shocked at first, having not seen it for some time. He knelt beside the sofa and brushed Aaron's hair with the back of his hand, smiling at the boy before him, before pulling at the blanket gently to cover him.

 

Aaron stirred before slowly opening his eyes.

Robert leant back a bit.

"Shit" he whispered. "Was trying not to wake you."

Aaron sat up slowly, wiping his eyes.

"Rob? What-"

"Came back early."

"Why?"

"Didn't fancy another day of meetings."

"Oh"

"And... kinda missed you."

 

Aaron felt his cheeks glow read and gave a small embarrassed smile.

"Yeah, missed you too."

Robert moved closer and brought his lips to Aaron's, kissing him gently before pulling away and tugging on the shirt.

"So.. what's this?"

Aaron looked down and realized he was wearing the shirt.

"Oh, umm-"

"-I thought we lost this in the move?"

"Well, yeah, you see-"

"-You arse." he laughed.

"Sorry" Aaron laughed back. "I just hated it."

"Hated? Past tense?"

"Yeah well... I suppose it looked good on you. And, it's not that bad now I'm wearing it."

"And you're wearing it because?"

 

Aaron felt his face go a more deep shade of red, looking down in embarassment.

"K-Kinda smelt like you."

"Aww, you're a little teddy bear aren't you really Aaron Livesy?"

"Tell no one" he laughed.

 

Robert pulled him into another kiss and a hug.

"You wanna go bed?"

"Yeah. Freezing down here."

Robert held out his hand and Aaron took it, Robert leading him upstairs into their room.

 

Robert removed his jacket, shirt and trousers, before climbing into the bed. Aaron removed the shirt and his t-shirt, catching the attention of Robert.

"You not keeping the shirt on?" he teased.

"Nah" Aaron commented as he climbed into the bed.

"Got you now ain't I?"

Robert grinned from ear-to-ear before pulling Aaron in and kissing his forehead. They both laid on their sides facing each other, Robert wrapping his arms around Aaron who leant his head against Robert's chest.

"This is nice." Robert sighed.

"Yeah." Aaron smiled.

 

Aaron circled his finger around Robert's chest, kissing his left pec gently before speaking.

"You know, next time? Maybe I.. I dunno, could come with you? When you're on these business trips?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, if you want me-"

"-Course I do!"

They both smiled as Robert kissed Aaron's hair, before pulling him in tighter.

 

 

 

They both laid silent, slowly drifting off.

 

 

 

"Y'know Aaron, now I've found that shirt, you aren't getting rid of it."

 

Aaron scoffed.

 

"We'll see about that."


End file.
